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bentong

As I looked at the rural landscape of Glastonbury, I started to miss our own rural landscape. At a village in Janda Baik, I saw a group of 'rain walkers' walking hurriedly with heavy rain from the mountains bearing down on them. They walked through rivers. orchards, fruit trees, flowers, rivers, goats, cattle and kampung houses. A beautiful landscape we take for granted.

Once upon a time, I went to the National Park and took an hour long chartered boat ride. The boatman stopped suddenly upriver and said. "This is it!" I asked what? He said "The waterfall!" I asked where? Another 45 minutes by jungle trek, he explained.

Kow Po is that famous family-owned ice-cream parlour in Bentong. I tried their cendol (icy dessert of green jelly in coconut milk, sweetened with palm sugar) this time and was delighted to find a scoop of pandan (screwpine) flavoured ice-cream on it.

While home-made ice cream is their signature product, part of the appeal of the place is the old-school containers and high-back diner-style chairs of the 60's. The place is also quite dark, perhaps harking back to the dimly-lit coffee-houses that served as courting venues during yesteryears.